IT WAS a close call on the Grand Trunk railway route as one of the bogies of GT Express caught fire on Tuesday afternoon. The incident occurred on NagpurSewagram route in Central Railway’s Nagpur Division and the train involved was Chennai bound 12616 Grand Trunk Express. The rear bogie of the train, SLRD, caught fire and thick plume of black smoke could be seen billowing out. The superfast train was nearing the Sindi Railway Station when the parcel bogie caught fire. Given the speed of the train, the flames engulfed the material stored in the bogie quite fast. Fortunately, timely pulling of chain on part of passengers prevented any major damage. Given the speed of the train, any delay in stopping the train could have spread the fire into the adjoining bogies. SLRD van is divided in multiple component, one for parcel, one for Divyang persons and one section for women. At time of incident about, 25 passengers were travelling in the same, it is reported. For the passengers in the adjoining sleeper bogies, it was a frightening scene, as they bore the heat of the billowing flames.

 

The time was close to noon and the train crew relayed the scene to operations control room. The train’s crew started fire fighting at their level. Fire fighters fromlocal body reached the spot andhelped quell the raging fire.Teamfrom Dahegaon (Gosavi) andfrom Sindi also rushed to thespot to tackle the situation. The travellers in the Divyang bogie were escorted out as a matter of abundant safety. Given the presence of material in the parcel van, the firefighters faced quite an arduous task to tackle the raging flames. It took the Fire Brigade personnel more than an hour to extinguish the fire. Railways has ordered departmental inquiry to ascertain the reason of fire. It may be recalled that in past, CR’s Nagpur Division had quite a frightening tryst with fire. So when the GT Express incident passed off without any incident, the top officials in division heaved a sight of relief.

 

 

 

THE incident of fire in parcel van is a reminder for Indian Railways that in pursuit of maximising gains, it should not do away with basic checks. Earlier luggage-cumparcel vans were run and maintained by Railways but now given on lease where RPF or other internal checks are absent. The agencies trying to maximise gains often tend to ignore basic precaution and load hazardous items, said people in privy of the matter. According to information provided by a passenger named Karan, who was travelling from Dholpur toWarangal and works as a railway platform vendor, said he noticed the smoke emanating from the rear luggage section at around 11:20 am. Acting swiftly and using his presence of mind, he pulled the emergency chain and alerted the Guard.

 

The train eventually came to a halt near the 784 km distance marker. Railway staff initiated fire fighting measures immediately. Two fire extinguishers were available in the Guard cabin, and around 12 additional extinguishers were brought from the pantry car and nearby AC coaches. Passengers and railway personnel jointly broke open the parcel section shutter and attempted to pull out the burning material. However, more than half of the parcels had already been reduced to ashes, and flames were visible outside the compartment.

 

Approximately one hour later, around 12:20 pm, a fire tender from the nearest Nagar Panchayat managed to reach close to the railway track to assist in extinguishing the fire. But the fire brigade personnel was initially stopped from dousing the flames due to live overhead electric cables supplying power to the train. Despite the train being on fire for over an hour, the overhead electric line had not been immediately tripped. Railway officials reportedly gave clearance around 12:40 pm to proceed with full fire fighting operations after the overhead electric supply was finally disconnected.